Saint Mary's College professor opens 'WAKE: Ian Weaver' at Moreau Gallery

Andrew S. Hughes, South Bend Tribune
·1 min read
This is one of the works that will be featured in the exhibit "WAKE: Ian Weaver" from Aug. 21 to 13, 2023, at the Moreau Gallery on the campus of Saint Mary's College. The exhibit examines different aspects of the term "wake," particularly with regard to Black activism and Weaver's fictional history for Chicago's displaced "Black Bottom" community.
This is one of the works that will be featured in the exhibit "WAKE: Ian Weaver" from Aug. 21 to 13, 2023, at the Moreau Gallery on the campus of Saint Mary's College. The exhibit examines different aspects of the term "wake," particularly with regard to Black activism and Weaver's fictional history for Chicago's displaced "Black Bottom" community.

SOUTH BEND — The exhibit “WAKE: Ian Weaver” opens Aug. 21 and continues through Sept. 13 at the Moreau Gallery on the campus of Saint Mary’s College.

An associate professor of art at Saint Mary’s and director of the gallery, Weaver’s interdisciplinary artistic practice explores memory and considers how individuals and communities construct their own identities.

His attention is particularly focused on the communities of the Near West Side of Chicago, specifically the “Black Bottom” area. Large parts of this multi-ethnic community were destroyed in the 1950s to construct an expressway, and as a result, residents lost much of their material history.

On exhibit: Art & Social Justice exhibit open through Aug. 26 at Colfax Gallery in South Bend

From this point of loss, Weaver has constructed a fictional history for this community including a fictional group, the Black Knights, presented as a symbolic force of social and political power in the fight for survival amidst displacement and regeneration.

This suit of armor helmet with a Black Power fist as its plumage will be featured in the exhibit "WAKE: Ian Weaver" from Aug. 21 to Sept. 13, 2023, at the Moreau Gallery on the campus of Saint Mary's College. Part of the exhibit includes works that depict Weaver's fictional history for Chicago's displaced "Black Bottom" community, including a fictional group, the Black Knights. The Black Knights works merge his interest in medieval heraldry and Black activism.

With “Wake,” Weaver continues his imaginary construction of this shattered community and responds to “wake” with a selection of objects that collectively weave together intersecting concerns of memory and identity.

In reference to Christina Sharpe’s writings in “In the Wake: On Blackness and Being” on representations of Black life, Weaver considers multiples understandings of “wake”: the temporary and ephemeral path behind a boat, a social ritual associated with funerals and a celebration of the dead, and the idea of awakening or becoming conscious.

An opening reception takes place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Aug. 31.

Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and by appointment Fridays.

For more information, call 574-284-4631, visit ianweaverartist.com or email iweaver@saintmarys.edu.

This is one of the works that will be featured in the exhibit "WAKE: Ian Weaver" from Aug. 21 to Sept. 13, 2023, at the Moreau Gallery on the campus of Saint Mary's College.
This is one of the works that will be featured in the exhibit "WAKE: Ian Weaver" from Aug. 21 to Sept. 13, 2023, at the Moreau Gallery on the campus of Saint Mary's College.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Saint Mary's College opens art exhibit about Black identity